A to Z Herbarium: Dandelion

Dandelion

Divination, Wishes, Calling Spirits

The leaf of the dandelion is used in summoning spirits, healing, purification, or overcoming negativity. The root is used in divination, wishes, and calling spirits. Drinking dandelion tea or coffee (in which the roots are roasted and ground) promotes psychic powers. Leaving a hot infusion by the bedside will call spirits.

Dandelion belongs to the goddess Hecate and is associated with the underworld and necromancy. It is beloved by bees, goats, and pigs.

Pigs!

To find out how long you will live, blow the seeds off the dandelion; however many seeds are left is how many years you’ll live. (So, asthma might be a good thing here…) To tell the time: blow three times on the seed head. However many seeds are left is the hour. To send a message to a loved one, blow on the seed head in his/her direction while visualizing the message.

When buried in the northwest corner of the house, dandelion will bring favorable winds.

The milk from dandelion stems is said to cure warts, and a tea made from dried leaves aids indigestion. A tincture made from the flowers will help with liver problems.

One can make dandelion beer from fermented dried dandelion leaves, and wine from the flowers. Root beer sometimes includes dandelion roots.

So many possitive things associated with the Dandelion :). I’m afraid I’m still not fond of it as a flower though … there is just something about them I don’t like, until they go to seed, then they are very pretty 🙂
TashaTasha’s Thinkings – Shapeshifters and Werewolves

Aww, but they are round and yellow! 😉 I do think they are lovely in flower form, especially in great numbers covering a green hillside as they do here in Sweden. When they go to seed, it doesn’t look nearly as nice on the hillside, in my opinion, but I love it when the wind kicks up and the seeds float through the air. It looks like a fairy realm. 🙂

Hi Sara – I knew the telling of the time story – but not the rest of the tales. I tried a dandelion drink one day – I didn’t enjoy it … but no doubt if that was all there was -I’d be happy! Cheers Hilary

I’ll pick one from time to time to blow on, just for the fun of it, but for the most part I also leave them alone.

I love root beer. I also haven’t had it for years, but that’s mostly because I gave up soda, and also because it’s difficult at best to find in Sweden. I’ve always wondered if modern root beer really does have roots in it or just “root flavoring” hehe. I imagine if you can find a quality brand, it might indeed have dandelions in it.

I love dandelions. Always have and never understood why people went to such efforts to get rid of them. Then, I took a wild edibles class and learned to love them more, and then I got bees and … well, I didn’t think I could love this lovely little flower more, but I do. I didn’t know you could learn so much from the seed heads. I’m all about spreading more of them, so I’ll be doing this as soon as it dries up enough around here! Thanks for another great post!

Interesting. Dandelions are all over where I live. I remember as a kid blowing the seeds around. (I don’t think that bit about how long you’ll live is very true because of that. I’d be long dead if so! LOL)

Rather fond of dandelion in its many forms. I love their cheerful yellow flowers, delight in their floatiness when they go to seed, enjoy the diuretic properties of a dandelion tea and am soothed by a nice mocha when made with roasted dandelion root coffee.

I also quite enjoy dandelions. Though I’ve never had dandelion root coffee. I love mocha, but don’t tolerate regular coffee well, so now I need to track down some dandelion root coffee so I can try it! 🙂